It was great to win at Tottenham for the second time this season and I was especially pleased for our goal scorers, Matt Jarvis and Modibo Maiga, who came on in the second half and headed the winner.

Our performance at White Hart Lane should not be underestimated. We had only 16 fit senior players and I hope we get the same amount of praise as the criticism I received in some quarters for allegedly undermining the competition by making too many changes.

An indication that I take the League Cup deadly seriously is that this will be my fourth semi-final during my managerial career; twice with Bolton, losing to Tranmere and beating Aston Villa, and once while managing Blackburn, losing to Villa.

Obviously, the semi-final draw against Manchester City is a tough one but it’s a challenge we’re relishing.

The situation has to be managed carefully. Everyone, the owners, players, fans and the management staff, would love to go to a cup final but the priority for us has to be remaining in the Premier League.

I am not the only one to make changes for the Capital One Cup. When we played at Burnley, they tweaked their team because their No1 goal this season is to win promotion from the Championship.

Even the top clubs know that if they go flat out to win all four competitions, they will generally win none of them. Sir Alex Ferguson went close with the Treble for Manchester United but it’s unlikely that feat will be repeated in my lifetime.

Modibo has been steadily improving in recent games. He has been making chances, which is always a key performance indicator as they say in the business world.

I don’t think he lost a ball in the air when he came on and it was a great leap for his goal. In addition, he could have hardly struck the ball better when he hit the woodwork late on.

The game largely panned out as the Premier League one in October when we went to White Hart Lane and won 3-0. Unlike then, we conceded a goal this time but after defending well, we again identified weaknesses — and then exploited them.

There is nothing like scoring goals and winning matches and it will have done Modibo and Matt the power of good. Hopefully, the win will release the pressure and the team will kick on. I say hopefully because we all expected that to happen after we won at Spurs in October — but it didn’t happen.

Modibo is a quiet, unassuming person and it has been difficult for him since he came to us 18 months ago. He started the season in the team because Andy Carroll was unfit and it was his big opportunity to contribute.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t produce the goals we were looking for when we signed him from Sochaux and, at this level, you can only be patient for so long.

There were big question marks by his name but only time will tell whether he continues to rise to the challenge. If he can go on a run of scoring, it will alleviate all our problems.

Perhaps Modibo will do the opposite to players such as Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke and Papiss Cisse at Newcastle, who both began their careers in English football spectacularly but have since levelled off somewhat.

There are some others, too, and Modibo could be one of the slow burners who take time to settle. Perhaps this is his time.

Our test is to break City’s home run

The Capital One Cup semi-final draw is a tough one but the challenge for us, with the first leg away, is to continue to do what we’ve done so well this season — defend well and keep the tie alive.

If we can end Manchester City’s 100 per cent domestic record at home this term, then that would be one of the results of the season but we want to come back home for the second leg and have a realistic chance of reaching the final.

There’s a lot of football to be played before that first leg early next month but I have played Adrian (above) in goal in the rounds so far and will continue to do that, based on his performances.

He came here from Real Betis, where he was the No1. It has been frustrating for him because the goalkeeper in front of him — Jussi Jaaskelainen — continues to play well.

Adrian has also performed equally well when called upon in the Capital One Cup and he deserves to stay in for the semi-final.

There may also be a chance, if he is ready, to give Andy Carroll some game time in the cup matches — we will see how things go.

We have other vital players missing at the moment — Ricardo Vaz Te, Stewart Downing, Winston Reid and Kevin Nolan — but still had loads of experience in the team we fielded against Spurs, which proved crucial because they had an understanding of what needed to be done.

Progression puts pressure on Sherwood

I wish Tim Sherwood well but he knows he must win matches at Spurs to have a chance of getting the top job permanently. The pressure there comes from the steady progression they have made in recent years and the ambition to qualify for the Champions League — as they did under Harry Redknapp.

As for Andre Villas-Boas, there is sympathy from one manager to another but no more than for anyone else who has lost his job.

I don’t know what went on internally, whether there are other reasons for his departure but the heavy home defeat by Liverpool will not have helped and could have prompted the decision.

Spurs have gone down the director of football route with Franco Baldini. I worked with one — Billy Bingham — at Blackpool but I prefer to work direct with the owners, rather than a football director or chief executive.

Honoured to take my place in anti-racism hall of fame

I enjoyed a visit to the House of Commons earlier in the week where I, Alex McLeish, Alan Pardew and Chris Hughton were inducted into the Show Racism the Red Card Hall of Fame.

It was an honour to be accepted after being a supporter of this brilliant campaign for many years and helping as much as I could through the community.